Exercise 'targets dementia'

Older people who walk regularly and take other forms of moderate exercise have a significantly lower risk of vascular dementia, a new study suggests.

Vascular dementia is the second most common form of dementia after Alzheimer's disease.

Research conducted on people aged 65 and older found that those who exerted the most energy walking reduced their risk of the form of dementia by more than a quarter.

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But the study did not find that exercise reduced the risk of Alzheimer's disease, although the researchers say more research is needed before it can be concluded that there is no link between a lack of exercise and the disease.

The four-year study included 749 Italian men and women who did not have memory problems when the research began.

Energy exerted in weekly physical activities, such as walking and climbing stairs, and moderate activities such as housework and gardening was measured.

By the end of the study 54 people had developed Alzheimer's disease and 27 developed vascular dementia.

The top one-third of participants who exerted the most energy walking were 27 per cent less likely to develop vascular dementia than people in the bottom one-third of the group.

Those who used the most energy in moderate activities reduced their risk of vascular dementia by 29 per cent and people who did the most total physical activity lowered their risk by 24 per cent.

'Our findings show moderate physical activity, such as walking, and all physical activities combined lowered the risk of vascular dementia in the elderly independent of several sociodemographic, genetic and medical factors,' said study author Dr Giovanni Ravaglia.

'It's important to note that an easy-to-perform moderate activity like walking provided the same cognitive benefits as other more demanding activities.'

The researchers propose that physical activity may improve cerebral blood flow and lower the risk of cerebrovascular disease, which is a risk factor for vascular dementia.

Commenting on the study, Dr Susanna Sorensen, head of research at the Alzheimer's Society, said: "A healthy heart leads to a healthy brain and this study adds to the growing body of evidence that keeping fit can help reduce your risk of developing dementia.

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'The comparison between people with vascular dementia and people with Alzheimer’s disease is particularly interesting. More research is now needed to determine whether physical activity can prevent one type of dementia to a greater extent than another.'

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